News – 02/28/19

The Lake County Sheriff, who also serves as the Director of Emergency Services issuing a local emergency declaration after massive damage from the atmospheric river. Sheriff Brian Martin declared the local emergency after reports of flooded homes, landslides, downed utility lines and trees. So the county can also get help from the state and perform certain duties to protect lives and property. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services gets the emergency declaration as the County responds to another natural disaster and prepares for more rain forecast to slam Northern Calif. this weekend and next week.

A large boat at Noyo Beach suddenly drifts out to sea from the harbor. Onlookers report the Trek II, a popular fishing and whale watching charter boat broke loose after it was just remodeled. It happened during flooding of the Noyo River which crested at just over 25 feet yesterday morning, flood stage is about 27 feet. The Coast Guard reports they were getting reports of a 55-foot charter vessel without a captain moving down the Noyo toward the ocean. They sent two 47-foot life boats out to help. The Trek II headed back on its own to Soldier Point Park. The Coast Guard reminding to inspect vessel moorings when there are high flood warnings and fast moving currents on all rivers in Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

Evacuations from boats in Forestville. Five rescue firefighters with Forestville working nonstop during the flood event in wet suits and life jackets with glow sticks to mark powerlines swinging too low over the very swollen Russian River hear people who needed help. The two apparently didn’t want to leave their home on River Drive which was inundated. That was after 2 days straight of rescuing or warning folks to leave. Forestville Fire Protection District reports as many as 30 emergency evacuations and responding to another 20 reports of hazardous conditions like mudslides and fallen power lines or medical emergencies. Reports of trees crashing into homes along the river. Two firefighters were helping people leave their homes, in a flat-bottom boat, another two in an inflatable raft and another on a jet ski.

Plans about six years ago for PG&E to put in new transmission equipment around the area where the Camp Fire broke out. Filings with the Public Utilities Commission show the complex of equipment unofficially linked to the ignition point of the fire in Butte County last November 2018. The equipment runs along Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties, known as the Caribou-Palermo line. It comes after the utility company was blamed for a deadly gas explosion in 2010 for which its charged with crimes, and for several fires in October 2017 which also killed several people. Towers that had been knocked over in a winter storm were supposed to be replaced in the fall of 2013, but in 2016 they still needed to do the repairs there and on several other aging facilities over 59.5 miles. PG&E reported power failures on the Caribou-Palermo line the day the Camp Fire broke out.

Untreated sewage spills reported across Humboldt County after heavy rain and ahead of the Perilous Plunge. The executive director of the Redwood Discovery Museum says she’s considering the spill ahead of the yearly Eureka event where participants where costumes and dive into the bay as a fundraiser for the museum. There’s been several reports of sewage spills in the cities of Eureka, Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale and the Humboldt Community Services District from between 1,000 to nearly 14,000 gallons. Altogether, as much as 30,000 gallons of overflowing sewage was reportedly flowing towards the ocean.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reports levels on the Russian and Navarro Rivers were receding. The rivers peaked yesterday morning but were expected to continue dropping. The Russian River was supposed to hit below flood stage by yesterday afternoon after swelling and inundating entire communities. Areas of Hopland still flooded and folks were being rescued out of Guerneville. The Sheriff’s Office also reported the Navarro River hit just over 37 feet but was dropping mid-day yesterday. It didn’t get near the record of 40.6 feet. The Garcia River flooded at Highway 1 north of Point Arena, also yesterday morning, so it was closed with Caltrans monitoring the flooding. Several people stayed in shelters and hotels and the Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services reports the Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency at their Tuesday morning meeting.

The Board of Supervisors votes yes for a temporary moratorium for growing genetically modified organisms of GMO’s as well as industrial hemp in unincorporated areas of Mendocino County. It’s just until county staff can study possible cultivation regulations. The moratorium in place for a month and a half, but it can be extended with notice and a public hearing. So it means there won’t be any permit, registration or approval for GMO’s or Hemp during that 45 days. Then staff will head back to the Board in April after the Department of Planning and Building Services and the Department of Agriculture consider changes and refinements to the county’s General Plan on GMOs and the establishment of regulations for hemp cultivation.

Possible changes to the way Lake County does business with marijuana farmers. The Board of Supervisors considering changes to the commercial cannabis cultivation code. Lake Co News reports that could open up more business with several new permit applicants that have been blocked by an ordinance-imposed deadline for growers to be enrolled in a water quality protection program, or “water board”. The news site says an April 19th, 2018 deadline was used to limit how many applicants were considered. Those against the deadline say it’s stopping potential business for the County. There are more than 100 applicants reportedly in a holding pattern. The board will take up the matter again in April.

A trailer totally demolished at Wildwood Campground in Fort Bragg by a falling tree due to flooding and a resident escapes thru a hole with the help of neighbors. The man went to a hospital but was released, his name has not been released. Neighbors reportedly heard crackling noises and looked out and saw the trailer buried under the tree which had uprooted due to saturated soil. The neighbors ran to help the man and guided him out the hole that was ripped open in the trailer in the storm. Apparently the man was in the kitchen when the tree fell on his living room where he sat just before the crash.

A woman had to be rescued after falling off a cliff at Glass Beach. The fall Monday morning. Rescuers from the Fort Bragg Fire Department out with an ambulance, along the Fort Bragg Police Department and State Parks. When they got there, rescuers couldn’t see the woman right away in the rainy weather, also low visibility. She was found about 20 minutes later. They carried her back up the path where there used to be stairs. She was apparently collecting rocks and lost her footing.